US to engage with Burma’s Junta?
The Obama Administration is busy at a diplomacy level below the surface. Although most of its critics don’t appear to notice, the government is making many outreach programs to previously ostracized countries. Syria was recently in Washington DC meeting with the State Department, and in another quiet piece of diplomacy, the Burmese Junta’s Foreign Minister just visited the US. He slipped in and out unnoticed by many in the mainstream media, where Sarah Palin’s speech to corporate investors in Hong Kong was the preferred headline.
Maj. Gen. Nyan Win quietly arrived in Washington on Friday night and left the next day after meetings with Burmese Embassy staffers, a U.S.-Asian business council and Sen. James Webb, the Virginia Democrat who has advocated closer ties to the junta, according to Kyaw Win, an embassy spokesman. The foreign minister also took in some sightseeing, visiting the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. A State Department spokesman said Nyan Win did not meet with administration officials.
The main goal of the trip was to evaluate the Burmese Embassy, which needs repairs, Kyaw Win said. “The approval is a good sign though,” he said. “We didn’t get permission for many years.”
Visit by Top Burmese Official Signals Softening of U.S. Policy – washingtonpost.com
However, there was one very important person who did take notice of the softening of the US position towards Burma, and that is pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. She believes, and it is harder to imagine a more credible source, that the Obama Administration’s strategy of engagement rather than isolation is the best way to make progress there.
The democracy figurehead [Suu-Kyi] was ordered to be detained for a further 18 months. Mr Yettaw was sentenced to seven years but was released after a visit from the Democratic senator Jim Webb. Mr Webb, who believes in closer engagement with Burma, said Ms Suu Kyi – whom he met – may share his sentiments: “I don’t want to misrepresent her views, but my clear impression is that she is not opposed to the lifting of some sanctions.”
There was broad approval of the US stance yesterday. Nyan Win, a spokesman for Ms Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for Democracy, told The Irawaddy website: “The new US approach will bring an improved and more transparent relation between the US and Burma.” Ms Suu Kyi supported the change in approach: “She accepted the idea of engagement by the US administration. She has always espoused engagement, however, [she] suggested that engagement had to be done with both sides – the government as well as the democratic forces.”
Suu-Kyi backs US move to open talks with junta – Asia, World – The Independent
